Did Delhi’s Air Quality Improve in 2018?

After analyzing Delhi’s air quality data from the US Embassy in 2018, Smart Air found that air pollution fell 5% in 2018 compared to 2017. Despite the slight improvement, Delhi still averaged more than 10 times the World Health Organization’s annual air quality limit, making it one of the most polluted cities in the world.

Delhi started 2018 on the wrong foot when air quality spiked in January. Most of Delhi’s improvement came late in the year, with better air quality from September through November.

Progress or not, air quality data from 2018 shows that Delhi still takes the crown for the most polluted among India’s major cities.

Smart Air provides empirically backed, no-nonsense purifiers and masks to help air-breathers protect themselves and their family. Smart Air is a certified B Corp founded to publicize the simple science behind air purifiers and masks, thereby lowering the cost of breathing clean air.

Get the latest clean air tips!

Get updates on masks, air purifiers and air quality delivered straight to your inbox.

Thomas is an Associate Professor of Behavior Science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the founder of Smart Air, a social enterprise to help people in China breathe clean air without shelling out thousands of dollars for expensive purifiers.

About Smart Air

Smart Air is a social enterprise based in China, India, Mongolia and the Philippines that creates simple, no-nonsense air purifiers and provides free education to combat the impacts of air pollution.
More about who the heck we are.